oSIST prEN 17637:2021

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
oSIST prEN 17637:2021
01-januar-2021
Gradbeni proizvodi - Ocenjevanje sproščanja nevarnih snovi - Ocenjevanje doze
emitiranega gama sevanja
Construction products: Assessment of release of dangerous substances - Dose
assessment of emitted gamma radiation
Bauprodukte - Bewertung der Freisetzung von gefährlichen Stoffen - Verfahren zur
Beurteilung von emittierter Gammastrahlung
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN 17637
ICS:
13.020.99 Drugi standardi v zvezi z Other standards related to
varstvom okolja environmental protection
13.280 Varstvo pred sevanjem Radiation protection
91.100.01 Gradbeni materiali na Construction materials in
splošno general
oSIST prEN 17637:2021 en,fr,de

2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee

If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations

which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.

This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other

language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,

Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,

Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and

Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are

Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without

© 2021 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 17637:2021 E

European foreword ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4

1 Scope .................................................................................................................................................. 5

2 Normative references .................................................................................................................. 5

3 Terms and definitions ................................................................................................................. 6

4 Symbols and abbreviated terms .............................................................................................. 8

5 Method for dose assessment ..................................................................................................... 8

5.1 General .............................................................................................................................................. 8

5.2 Assessment for evaluation of a construction product ...................................................10

5.2.1 Product information...................................................................................................................10

5.2.2 Dose assessment of the construction product ..................................................................11

5.2.3 Dose assessment of the model building ..............................................................................14

5.3 Assessment for evaluation of a building design ...............................................................14

5.3.1 Product information...................................................................................................................14

5.3.2 Dose assessment of the construction product ..................................................................15

6 Reporting ........................................................................................................................................18

Annex A (informative) Description of the dose assessment model .......................................19

A.1 General ............................................................................................................................................19

A.2 Method description ....................................................................................................................19

A.3 Dimensions of the model room ..............................................................................................19

A.4 Model assumptions .....................................................................................................................19

Annex B (informative) Examples of dose assessment .................................................................21

B.1 Assessment for evaluation of the construction product ...............................................21

B.1.1 General ............................................................................................................................................21

B.1.2 Example 1: Concrete with elevated massic activities .....................................................21

B.1.3 Example 2a: Superficial material ...........................................................................................22

material ...........................................................................................................................................22

B.1.5 Example 3: Ceramic brick for an intended use as outer wall ......................................23

B.2 Assessment for evaluation of the building design ...........................................................24

B.2.1 General ............................................................................................................................................24

B.2.2 Example 1: Room with concrete walls with elevated concentrations and typical

concrete floor and ceiling .........................................................................................................24

B.2.3 Example 2: Room with cavity walls and concrete floor and ceiling ..........................25

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................26

This document (prEN 17637:2021) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 351

“Construction products: Assessment of release of dangerous substances”, the secretariat of which is

This document has been prepared under a mandate given to CEN by the European Commission and

In January 2014 the Basic Safety Standards Directive (2013/59/Euratom) [1], also named EU-BSS,

was issued laying down basic safety standards for the protection against the danger arising from

exposure to ionising radiation. The directive also sets requirements on the gamma radiation dose

from the naturally occurring radionuclides ( Ra, Th and K) in building materials and must be

taken into account along with the 2011 EU regulation laying down harmonized conditions for the

marketing of construction products (EU no 305/2011) [2], the so called CPR. Both EU regulatory

documents constitute a new basis for radiation protection regulation of building materials and are

intended to be complemented by EU guidance and standards of which this document is part.

Pivotal in the regulatory system of the EU-BSS and CPR is the dose assessment of building materials

and its compliance against a reference level as defined under Article 75 of the EU-BSS. For this

purpose an activity concentration index is provided in the directive under Annex VIII. The index

value is determined using the material’s massic activity Ra, Th and K. As the index is proposed

as a conservative screening tool provisions are put in place under Annex VIII to allow for more

precise assessment of the dose if needed. This includes consideration of the material’s density,

thickness and other factors relating to the type of construction and the intended use. However, no

method for a more refined dose assessment is provided in the directive, despite the fact that various

EU member states allow for such refined assessment. This document serves as a harmonized

assessment method that can support harmonized standards under the CPR, and is meant to address

This document is an addition to the activity concentration index as formulated in the Annex VIII of

the EU-BSS. The method describes a state-of-the-art dose assessment that takes account of all factors

stipulated under Annex VIII of the directive. In the method, important consideration is given to

differentiate between the dose from the individual construction product and the assembly of

products that result in the dose from the model building. In the EU-BSS dose requirements are

expressed in terms of a dose from the building, while the CPR is intended to set product specific

requirements. For this reason the method provides for a calculation of dose from the individual

product, followed by a calculation of the product assembly with subtraction of background to enable

— A normative instruction on the use of the assessment method with description of the equations

— An informative Annex A with a description of the dose assessment model, including explanation

of the modelling principles, main assumptions, coefficients and conversion factors;

— An informative Annex B containing a series of examples on the use of the assessment method.

This document describes a calculation method to determine the indoor gamma dose from

construction products. The method includes calculation of the indoor gamma dose from the

individual construction product under its intended use, as well as the dose from the building taking

consideration of multiple building materials where this is deemed necessary and any shielding from

The calculation method builds on existing modelling principles for photon emission and absorption.

Parameters of the modelling that are not product specific, such as room geometry, exposure

coefficients and conversion factors are predefined and form the underlying basis for the method in

this document. The choice for pre-defined model parameters is essential from a harmonization

perspective, despite the fact that such parameters can vary considerably for every homeowner,

building type, region or country. Typical examples are the exposure time, building geometry, the

location of exposure in the building and the terrestrial background radiation. The parameters are

selected on the basis of international consensus, as laid down in ICRP, UNSCEAR, EU RP guidelines

and other renowned publications. Product specific parameters such as density and thickness are

specified in accordance with the product’s intended use. In addition the products’ massic activities

of Ra, Th and K are specified and obtained according to prEN 17216 [3]. The method provides

a tiered approach with a basic approach intended for assessing individual construction products,

followed by a more refined approach to assess a complete building design. The former approach

assumes an identical structure of building materials on all six surfaces of the model room, and where

needed complemented with other building materials that form an intrinsic part of the product’s

intended use. The latter approach enables evaluation of a known building design. Here the user can

specify the applied construction product to walls, floor or ceiling separately in accordance with the

The indoor gamma dose from the individual construction product as well as the building is expressed

in terms of an annual effective dose from gamma radiation in the indoor environment. The

formulation of the indoor gamma dose in the building is consistent with the dose for indoor external

exposure as stated under Article 75 of the Basic Safety Standards Directive. As a result the described

method enables assessment of the calculated annual dose of the building against the reference level

The method is designed for assessment of mineral based building materials applied in bulk or

superficially and used as a construction product in buildings. This includes any building materials

that have been identified by EU member states as being of concern from a radiation protection point

of view. The method is envisaged for use by producers of building materials, architects and building

It is important to state that following the calculation of dose, any subsequent regulatory classification

falls explicitly outside the scope of this method and is the responsibility of the relevant authorities.

ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:

any construction product for incorporation in a permanent manner in a building or parts thereof and

the performance of which has an effect on the performance of the building with regard to exposure

structure consisting of one or more building materials with either vertical or horizontal orientation

or a combination of both, that separate the indoor space from the outdoor space or one space from

building material with an assumed massic activity of 40 Bq/kg Ra, 30 Bq/kg Th and 400 Bq/kg

sum of the weighted equivalent doses in all the tissues and organs of the body from internal and

Note 2 to entry: The values for w and w are specified in Annex II of the EU-BSS [1].

level of effective dose or equivalent dose or massic activity above which it is judged inappropriate to

Note 1 to entry: One sievert is equivalent to one joule per kilogram: 1 Sv = 1 J/kg. Further details are

building material located on the interior side of the building structure, applied as a protective layer

Note 1 to entry: Superficial material may also include any other building material with a restricted use

within the building structure, such as joint-filler, insulation material, sanitary ware, etc.

This document uses the symbols and names of quantities as mentioned below; the units in which the

EB2 annual effective dose from the building with subtraction of background mSv per year

The dose assessment comprises of two approaches to calculate the dose from a single construction

product or an assembly of construction products that make up a building or room. In addition it

calculates the dose of the building by summing the dose from each of the construction products that

make up the building. Subsequently a subtraction of background gamma radiation is applied to

The method builds on a room geometry with a cuboid shape and six surfaces (Figure 1), not including

any doors or windows. Here the front and back wall (W ) have dimensions of 4 m × 2,5 m, the two

side walls (W ) have dimensions of 3 m × 2,5 m, and the ceiling and floor have dimensions of

Calculation of the dose within the proposed procedure is based on the concept of mass per unit area

, which is the product’s density multiplied with the product’s thickness in its intended use. To

determine the dose from each construction product applied either at all six surfaces or only one,

shielding effects from the products located in front are considered. For this purpose the parameters

ρ and ρ are introduced. ρ represents the mass per unit area of the construction product of

interest plus all products located in front. ρ represents the mass per unit area of all construction

products located in front of the product that is considered and excludes the mass per unit area of the

product itself. An example is shown in Figure 1. The difference between ρ and ρ is the mass per

unit area of the considered construction product. For this reason it is essential in the assessment to

consider the appropriate order of the construction products, starting from the inside of the building

structure. Where the assessment only considers one construction product, ρ is the product’s mass

The dose assessment is designed for building structures with a mass per unit area of up to 500 kg/m .

Any part of the building structure located on the outside that exceeds 500 kg/m will have a

NOTE The numbering (i) of the products runs from the inside to the outside of the building structure.

Figure 1 — Sketch of the model room together with a building structure containing three

The main difference between both assessment approaches described under 5.2 and 5.3 are the

following. The first assessment method for evaluation of a construction product is intended to assess

the dose from an individual product and assumes its application on all six surfaces of the building.

The second assessment method for evaluation of the building design is more refined and enables

specifying multiple construction products for each of the building surfaces, which include the front

Assessment of a single construction product does require that consideration should be given to a

intended use that is intrinsically combined with other bulk products. In that case the adjacent

construction product shall be considered in the assessment in the form of a default material. For

these circumstances provisions are included to specify appropriate material properties for these

additional materials. Typical scenarios include superficial materials or products intended for

For both assessment methods the calculated dose from the construction product considers the

properties of the product itself and takes account of any self-attenuation in the product, but it also

takes account of any shielding from the adjacent product(s) located on the inside of the product. It is

therefore important to stress that the calculated dose of the construction product is not an intrinsic

property of the product, but is specific to the composition of the building structure specified in the

a) Massic activity a of Ra, Th and K expressed in Bq/kg of the construction product obtained

b) The thickness d and density ρ of the construction product under its intended use expressed in m

and kg/m respectively, with a minimum mass per unit area ρ of 25 kg/m . In cases where the

Some construction products such as superficial materials or products intended for construction of

an inner or outer wall, which are by definition used in conjunction with an additional bulk material

and. In the case where the material properties of the additional construction product(s) are not

NOTE 1 The additional construction products under consideration are only those that are intrinsically

required as part of the product that is to be assessed; materials such as superficial materials can be ignored.

c) Massic activity a of Ra, Th and K expressed in Bq/kg of the construction product(s) that

are part of the building structure are set to the European default values of respectively 40, 30

NOTE 2 The European default massic activities for Ra, Th and K are obtained from the European

d) The thickness d and density ρ of the additional construction product(s) under its intended use

that are part of the building structure expressed in m and kg/m respectively, with a minimum

The thickness and density should be selected realistically. A guideline for determining the

product properties is to assume a thickness of 0,2 m and a mass per unit area of 470 kg/m for

e) The mass per unit area ρ of the building structure shall not exceed 500 kg/m . Where needed

the mass per unit area of the construction product(s) shall be reduced or excluded starting with

f) Set the ordinal i for the construction product(s) starting from the inside of the building structure

a) Sum the mass per unit area of the construction products i selected for assessment together with

the constructions products that are located in front of the product i, according to Formula (2):

construction products that are located in front of the construction product i, in

b) Sum the mass per unit area of the constructions product(s) that are located in front of the

ρ is the combined mass per unit area of the construction products that are located

c) Calculate the annual effective dose E in mSv per year of the construction product selected for

assessment according to Formula (4). Select the specific dose rate Eρ in Table 1 with the mass

construction products that are located in front of the construction product i, in

ρ is the combined mass per unit area of the construction products located in front

7 000 is the occupancy time as an average for the annual time spent indoors in Europe,